If ever there was a time to be a fly on the wall, it was last week at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. That's when the offensive staffs from three of the top eight offenses – Ohio State, Clemson and Texas A&M – broke bread and shared concepts, according to CBS Sports' Bruce Feldman.
The gathering included heavy hitters such as Tom Herman, Chad Morris and Jake Spavital.
"You're not trying to change the style of offense, you're just looking for a couple of little things where you can tweak your offense," Spavital told Feldman.
The Ohio State staff was able to get a better handle on Clemson's ability to use misdirection, and A&M's screen game and the myriad of ways the Aggies block it all up. The Buckeyes' guests gained insight into how Ohio State led the nation in rushing yards per carry with their command of the Power and the Counter.
For the Aggies, it was especially helpful to pick the brain of Morris and his Clemson staff for ways they can exploit the talents of agile 6-6, 274-pound Cam Clear. The Tigers, the A&M staff had observed from previous film study, had been adept at utilizing some of their big wideouts/tight end/H-back kind of weapons in a variety of ways from different formations.
"You're talking about timing issues (within the play) about what the path of the offensive linemen are; how the quarterback's footwork should be," Spavital said. "There is a lot to be discussed and you kind of just chip away it.
"I know we got a lot of little things that made us better."
